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This week Major League Baseball lost another rising star, Yordano Ventura, in a tragic accident. Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) wrote a great piece on how teams are struggling to cope with tragedy but also prevent it from happening again.

Growing up in St. Louis, I could relate to a lot of what was shared in Stark's piece. I had tickets to go to the game the day Hancock was killed. The car accident happened less than a mile from my home.

I remember walking into the living room to tell my dad I just saw on Twitter that Tavares was killed. We were both in stunned as just a week prior we watched him take the field for the Cardinals. At the time, I remember Ventura's tribute, one of many to Oscar. A simple but poignant OT #18 scrawled for all to see on the front of his cap. He honored his fallen friend his and pitched the best game of his career in the process.

Shortly after Tavares' passing, much time was spent discussing how the loss of life could be prevented. Many hoped his untimely death would be a wake up call to all players, especially young ones who seem to have a heightened sense of invincibility. The general conclusion seemed to be that maybe his death would be a sobering reminder of each's own mortality.

Just when we started to feel our beloved heroes were again invincible, the death of Jose Fernandez slapped us in the face and brought us right back to reality. I had spent that weekend with some of my best friends reliving our college days and cheering on our favorite college football team. No one said it, but I think what struck us that morning as we watched the television in disbelief was that it could have easily been any one of us.

Young, full of life, and just starting to find our footing in this crazy world.

And then there was Ventura. He had made it out of incredible poverty to become a World Series Champion before 25. Now, his mother is pleading with others to make responsible decisions to avoid the same fate.

As much as the deaths of athletes, celebrities, or really anyone famous, seem to affect us, regardless of our personal relationship with that person, I think Marlins President, David Samson, summed it best in Stark's piece. "A lot of incredible, wonderful, amazingly talented people die every day, and I'm not sure that's ever going to change."